Cross weaving



oct. 31, 1939. ORT() 2,177,944

CROS S WEAVING ATTORNEY.

OC. 31, 1939.. Lv D, ORTO 2,177,944

CROS S WEAVING Filed Dec. 27, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 F F- fi z FB 5a l V-40 'l `x4 I '64 m p i W ATTH/VEY Oct. 31, 1939.

l., D. oR-rp CROSS WEAVING 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed DeG. 27, 1938 INVENTORMUI'MMML ATTORNEY.

out. 31, 1939. D, ORTQ 2,177,944

CROS S WEAVING Filed Dec. 27, 193B 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 6 BYl ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

In the conventional system of cross-weaving (considering it in itssimplest form), given the reed of the loom and what we may term. a pairof primary standard harnesses (each being a 1 frame carrying heddles) atthe reed side thereof there is a douping harness comprising what we mayterm a secondary standard harness (being a frame carrying heddles thesame as each primary standard harness) and douping means comprising aframe or bar and loops or doups which extend from the latter and haveeach a reeving engagement with a heddle of the secondary standardharness. With respect to any two threads to undergo the crossing, oneextends `through a heddle of one of the primary harnesses and thencefreely through the secondary harness and directly to and through a dentin the reed. The other, or Whip thread, extends through a heddle of theother primary harness, then through the loop or doup of a secondaryharness heddle which next adjoins the first thread, and thence to andthrough the mentioned dent of the reed. The threads are kept taut andtend to lie parallel from the whip-roll to the take-up of the loom Withthe rst thread between the latter heddle and the whip thread, whichcondition they will assume if the doup permits, as by being pulled orreeved through its heddle by the whip thread; and in this state theprimary harnesses may be manipulated to cause the two threads to partakein the forming of a shed. But if the doup is pulled through its heddlein the opposite direction by its bar or frame and there held, the Whipthread will be thereby so displaced laterally as -to cross under theother cr standard thread between the secondary harness and the primaryharnesses, and in that state of the threads the harnesses may again bemanipulated to cause vthe threads to partake in the forming of a secondshed.

Now, there are these faults with this system: The lateral displacementonly affects one of the threads (the whip thread), the other remainingalways in xed position; in other words, the strain incident todisplacement is not apportioned, and there is the necessity,furthermore, that a so-called slackener must be provided to afford ayield specifically to the whip thread. But what is of most significanceis the fact that such displacement as the whip thread undergoes does notalfect the whip thread further back than the corresponding primarystandard harness, Wherefore an incident of the crossing is a violentrubbing or Wearing and straining of the threads, and this means thatcross-Weaving cannot be performed successfully unless the threads arecoarse and hence strong enough to withstand the indicated abrasion.

According to this invention the displacement may be made to affect boththreads and the strain incident to such displacement is consequentlyapportioned between them, and whatever slackening or yield may berequired may be effective as to both threads. Further, the displacementin any case is permitted to act clear back to the whip-roll, Vwhereforethere is no crossing in the limited sense o-f the conventional systemand no contact of the threads with each other, and hence no straining orabrasion incident thereto. Consequently, cross-Weaving according to thisinvention may be performed with the use of threads of the very iinestgage; in fact, there is no strain or Wear on the threads beyond thatrequired for the shedding.

According to my invention one or each thread is to be passed around theother without necessary contact, as between them; the displacement mayaiect the thread or each thread from the Whip-roll of the loom` to atleast the reed.` Essentially, for any thread so to be moved there aretwo members, as heddles, each capable of movement independently of the`other in a direction from one face of the warp and back, and a flexibleconnector connects and has an eye between them through which one threadto be moved is reeved, the other thread being between the members and atthe side of the connection facing in said direction. By including twoother members each capable of movement independently of the other in theopposite direction and a liexible connector connecting and having an eyebetween them through which the other thread is reeved, each thread maybe moved around the other.

In practice for a connector, I use a doup having a reeving engagementwith the corresponding members and there are elements, as harness framesor bars, to which the extremities of the doup are connected and eitherof which is movable in the direction in which said members are movableand back when one member so moves and While the other element ismaintained in a substantially constant relation to the other member.However, this is not to be regarded as inevitably indispensable.

In practice, further, the displacement of one or either thread aroundlthe other in this Way would form the beginning of a shed-formingoperation. In other words, the means outlined above could, of itself, beused to complete the movements 'of thethreads to their shed-formingpositions, so that as either thread becomes positioned at one side orthe other of the other thread filling may be passed through the shedincluding these threads.

I further set forth herein novel mechanism for selectively manipulating,subject to a given pattern, the said members and elements.

In the drawings,

Figs. 1 and 2 are iront-to-rear sectional and more or less diagrammaticviews showing the harnesses, doups and doup-controlling elements and thethreads, the system being here in its mentioned preferred form andarrangement, Fig. i showing the parts in the state in which the threadsoccupy their normal positions and Fig. 2 showing them in the state inwhich the threads have passed each other, thread a in the more remotepath;

Figs. la, 1D and 1c show in front elevation and in three differentpositions a harness, as B, and the adjoining element Il, and,diagrammatically, the connections for co-ordinating their move ments;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of so much of a loom as includes sheddingmeans containing what is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and my mechanism forselectively, or according to a given pattern, operating the same;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevation, partly in section, showing aportion of the shedding means and parts of said mechanism such as theshiiters, the needles and guides for the latter;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 5 5, Fig. 4,

and includes the cylinder and its controller;

Fig. G is a view showing the cylinder in plan and the other parts ofFig. 5 in section on line 6, Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a plan of the grid of the upper shifter;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a hook and its carrier; and

Fig. 9 is a plan of a needle.

In Figs. l and 2 there are shown two pairs of harnesses A and B eachcomprising a frame i (see Fig. 3, only the bars la being shown in Figs.l and 2) doup-carrying members as heddles 2 in the frame, the heddlesconsisting of intercoupled looped cords as shown and thus in thisexample serving guides for the doups, the guides proper of which are atthe coupling points 2a. Connecting the heddles is a flexible connector,here a doup, in reeving engagement With the guides proper of each pair,being a flexible cord having an eye they are U-shaped, the left-handdoup being inverted. The ends of each doup are afiixed to frames orother doup-controlling elements fi, there being a pair to each pair ofharnesses if-B. The threads in Fig. 1 are in their closed-hed positions,here at least for the sake of illustration thread a above thread h; theyextend respectively through the eyes 3a and between the heddles of eachgroup.

Consider, Jirst, the left-hand group of parts A-B--3.l, and disregardfor the meanwhile the fact that the thread a is subject to actuation bythe other group. Il B is moved relatively to A, or vice versa, in theupward direction, the thread h may be made to pass one side or the otherof thread a according as the doup is held in substantially fixedrelation to the rising heddle but is allowed vto reeve past the guide 2aof the other heddle, as by elevating the element 4 adjoining the rstheddle at the same rate as the latter wlnle allowng or causing the otherelement to rise so as to tend to produce slack in the doup. Thus in Fig.2, A has descended and B has risen,

the right-hand element 4 maintaining constant its relation to B but theleft-hand element has moved relatively to A tending to produce slack inthe doup.

In this way, thread b being caused to pass upwardly past thread a firstat one side and then at the other, incidentally far enough to partake inthe forming of a shed for reception of weit or iilling, crossweaving maybe performed without any of the disadvantages incident to theconventional system.

Preferably the other group A--B---d of parts Will operate in the sameway on thread a (or while B-l of the left-hand group are rising therelatively opposite member A is descending), so that when thread b isrising at either side of thread a, the latter will be descending.

The load and incidental strain involved in passing one thread past theother of course is imposed on that heddle around whose guide 2a the doupbecomes formed with a bight, as at the right of the left-l1and group orthe left of the right-hand group in Fig. 2. If, in addition, there weresliding friction as between the doup and the guide at this time unduewear of the guide-portion of the heddle with some Wear of the doup wouldensue. Regarding the two heddles as doup-supporting members with each ofwhich the doup, with its eye between them, has a normally free reevingengagement and which are movable independently of each other in onedirection from the face of the warp and back, my invention contemplatesmeans, during said movement of a member, to hold the doup againstsubstantial reeving motion with respect to such member, which meansincludes', with the elements 4, certain other parts in the presentexample, as will appear. Thereby sliding friction, in the presence ofstrain, and consequent wear are avoided.

Of course, with the use of additional harnesses not associated withcoupling means 3 6, an innite number of iigures and designs may beworked out in the fabric, perhaps requiring, for example, the rise orfall of all or either oi the groups shown, i. e., without thedifferential movement of the elements 4.

Each harness and each element 4 is to be here regarded as a part of anendless flexible system also including a dat bar 5 to form a carrier andwhich is arranged to move lengthwisel of itself and which may beconnected with such harness or element in any way, as by cords 6extending from the ends of bar 5 and connected with other cords '5,attached to such harness or elements, through the medium of levers 8,the cords 'I extending around pulleys El as guides. Pvoted to eachcarrier 5 between its own ends is a flat double hook I0, here havinghook portions IUa projecting in the same direction crosswise of andarranged on opposite sides of its pivoting axis. According as the hookis shifted so as to bring the one or the other of its hook portions intothe path of the shifter therefor so the device 5-HJ and the system ofwhich it forms a part will be shifted. Carrier 5 opposite the pvot haslugs 50i-5b projecting in the same direction as the hook portions ma.

On the loom frame il is mounted a frame l2 having two vertical fixedshafts I3 (one being hidden by the other). A pair of Shifters ld are toreciprocate on these shafts together toward and together from eachother. Each shifter includes (Figs. 4 and 5) a pair of heads I5penetrated by and free on the shafts, and to keep separated each device5-I from its neighbor and shift the lsame (to wit, froma mid-position upand down or down and up) according to the requirement of the pattern,each shifter also includesrthese parts: A channeled member I6 rigidlyconnecting the heads and slots at |6a, Fig. 7, so as toaccommodateseparately said devices 5-||), and a plate or knife the knife for theupper shifter extending upwardly and that for the lower shifterextending downwardly from the corresponding member I6. According as ahook portion Ilia of any such device 5-|0, on pivotal movement of thehook when the two .Shifters approximate each other, extends past theupper or lower edge (as the case may be) of a knife, so whenV theShifters move apart such device will partake of the movement, up ordown, of the corresponding shifter; and when the Shifters next movetogether thatshifter will engage the lugs 5a of said device and returnthe latter to its mean or shed-closing position-shown by Figs, 4 and 5.

In the mean positions of the Shifters there exists a space between them.Extending through this space and guided by any means, as bars I8 of theframe 2, is a row of needles I9, each needle having a shoulder I 9abetween which and one bar IB and coiled about the needle is a spring 20tending to urge such needle to the right in Fig. 5 or against a cylinderto be referred to. The needleslie in a horizontal plane at one side of(here above) that of the pivots of the hooks when the devices 5-I ll arein their mean positions and l they alternate with said devices; thelatter have their hooks all at the corresponding sides of their carriers5 and a hook of each device is received in a notch |91)` of theadjoining needle. Thus in the present case (where the needles are abovethe pivots of the hooks). the spring-urged needles tend to hold thehooks as shown in Fig. 5, or so that on the next movement of theShifters the devices 5||l would be elevated by the upper shifter; but ifany needle is repressed, as by the mentioned cylinder, the correspondinghook would be shifted to position to be caught by the lower shifter sothat at on. the descent of the latter the device 5|il including suchhook would be depressed. In any case, when the shifters return to theirmean position they engage the thusdisplaced hook-device E-ID at theirlugs 5a and so return them to their mean positions.

For reciprocating the shifters, there are fulcrumed inthe frame l2 twoidentical lever structures, one above the other, each including a shaft2| having arms 22 thereon, one at each side of the frame, each armhaving an extension 23 bolted thereto as at 24 so as to be adjustablelengthwise thereof by virtue of slots 22a in the Varms receiving thebolts; the arms of the upper and lower lever structures, respectively,are connected by links 25 with the upper and lower Shifters. The twolever structures are oscillated in opposite directions through links 26from a double-crank 2l on a rotating shaft 28 of the loom.

In bearings |2a of the frame I2 slide horizon-- tally shafts 29 andthese have collars 30 by which they are connected through links 3| witharms 32 of' the upper lever structure (only the near ones of the parts29 to 32 being shown in Fig. 3). 'The shafts 29 carry a support 33 inwhich is journaled a pattern cylinder 34 which, in each reciprocationthereof horizontally, may be turned a quarter-turn by the engagement, inthe usual way, with one of its four studs 35 of a hook 36 pivoted toframe I2. In the support 33 is guided the verticallyv movable plunger 31having its lower end or head held against the cylinder by a' spring l38interposed between said head-and the top of the support. The cylinder ateach of lts four faces andv in aline which will coincide with the planeof the needles when such face is presented to them is provided withholes 39 according to `some prescribed pattern (see Fig. 6), wherebywhen the cylinder moves toward the needles some of them will `berepressed `and the remainder left in their normal positions. Of courseany other pattern means than a cylinder thus provided with holes iswithin the invention.

When shaft 28 is rotating and through the described connections theShifters are reciprocat ed together* toward and together from each othershafts 29 carrying the cylinder will be reciprocated, moving to therightto retract the cylinder from the needles when the Shifters moveapart and to the left to selectively actuate the needles when theShifters move together. In each movement ofthe cylinder to the right itis turned a quarter-revolution by hook 36 so as' to present a new` faceto the needles on its next movement to the left.

Repression of given needles, according to the pattern, meansrepressionof the corresponding hooks IIJ. I-llooks not repressed remain in theposition shown by Fig. 5,`or so that they will be caught at their upperhook portions IUa by the upper shifter and the corresponding devices5||lv elevated. Hooks repressed will be caught at their lower hookportions by the lower shifter and depressed. Since each device 5||l isapart of an endless system, as described, including a harness A or B oran element 4, shedding will ensue and as an incident thereof and in thewayalready explained the manipulation of the threads of a warp may beeffected so as to produce cross-weaving.

As indicated, when a harness member A or B moves in the direction to.pass the corresponding thread past the other thread and form a shed, theadjoining bar or element 4 is confined to move with it while the othersuch element is not so confined to move with its adjoining harnessmember. Thus, in Fig. 2, right-handelement 4 of the left-hand group has`risen with the adjoining harness member B but the left-hand element isat a higher elevation than the adjoining harness member A. Otherwisestated, on each movement of a harness member in its said direction theadjoining element is, and on each movement of said member in theopposite direction such` element is not, conf-med to move with saidmember. It remains to consider how thisis accomplished:

In Figs. 1a to 1c the lower cord forming a part of each endless systemincluding an element 4 includes an elasticextensible portion, as aspring la (not true of the systems which include the harnesses, whichare non-extensible).

Each harness has a vertical rod 40 mounted in` brackets 4| attached to aside edge of the harness frame, the rod having nuts 42 screwed thereonand abutting the brackets, whereby to adjust the rod, which has a collaror stop 43, vertically. Each element 4 has an arm 44 freely penetrated`by the rod and which may abut or dog the collar. (We are hereconsidering a harness and element of the left-hand group in Figs. 1 and2, that is, where each arm overlies its stop or collar; as for the othergroup, where the parts are inverted, each arm of course would underlieits stop.)

The arrows shown by Figs. 1b and 1c denote the directions of themovements last taken by the two endless systems shown.

In Fig. 1a the two systems are in the neutral or closed-shed positions,as in Fig. 1. Spring 'la is under tension and the upper cord of the samesystem is slack.

If the harness and element 4 are to assume their positions of Fig. 2 atthe right of the group (both up) then both of the corresponding carriersshould descend together to move the two systems as per the arrows inFig. lb, the spring remaining tensioned as in Fig. 1a.

If the harness and element d are to assume their positions of Fig. 2 atthe left of the group (the former down and the latter raised relativelyto the former so as to tend to produce slack in the doup) then, startingfrom the neutral position, the carrier 5 corresponding to the harnessrises and the other carrier falls to move the two systems as per thearrows in Fig. 1c. Note that ele-- ment l does not fall as far as theharness falls since the first part of the movement of its carrier 5 isexpended in taking up the slack in the corresponding upper cord 6.

In Fig. 2, left-hand group, the systems including the harness andelement at the right are in the state shown by Fig. 1b, and those at theleft in the state shown by Fig. 1c. Return them to the position of Fig.1 and then the irst system may be made to assume the state of Fig. 1cand the second system that of Fig. 1b.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A system for passing one of two threads of a warp past the otherincluding a doup having an eye to receive the rst thread,doup-supporting members movable independently of each other in onedirection from the face of the warp and back and with each of which thedoup, having its eye between said members, has a normally free reevingengagement, and means, during said movement of a member, to hold thedoup against substantial reeving motion with respect to such member.

2. A system for passing each of two threads of a warp past the otherincluding a pair of doups respectively having eyes to receive therespective threads, a pair ci doup-supporting members movableindependently o1 each other in one direction from the face of the warpand to a given limit and back, another pair of doup-supporting membersmovable independently of each other in the opposite direction and to agiven limit and back, said doups having a normally free runningengagement with and eyes between the members of the respective pairs andeach being arranged between the other doup and the limit to which themembers supporting the latter doup are movable, and means, during saidmovement of any member, to hold the corresponding doup againstsubstantial reeving motion in respect to such member.

3. A system for passing one of two threads of a warp past the otherincluding a doup having an eye to receive the rst thread,doup-supporting members movable independently of each other in onedirection from the face of the warp and back and with each of which thedoup, having its eye between said members, has a normally free reevingengagement, and means, during said movement of a member, to hold theextremity of said doup which adjoins said member in substantiallyconstant relation thereto while moving the other extremity of the doupin the opposite direction.

4. A system for passing each of two threads of a warp past the otherincluding a pair of doups respectively having eyes to receive therespective threads, a pair of doup-supporting members movableindependently of each other in one direction from the face of the warpand to a given limit and back, another pair of doup-supporting membersmovable independently of each other in the opposite direction and to agiven limit and back, said doups having a normally free runningengagement with and eyes between the members of the respective pairs andeach being arranged between the other doup and the limit to which themembers supporting the latter doup are movable, and means, during saidmovement of any member, to maintain both extremities of thecorresponding doup in substantially constant relation tc such member.

5. In a cross-weaving loom, the combination of supporting structure, apair of doup-controlling elements movable in a given direction and back,a pair of harness members movable in said direction and back andarranged between said elements, a doup connecting said elements andhaving a reeving engagement with said members and an eye between themand through which one of the two threads to be crossed is reeved, saidthreads being adapted to extend between said members, flexibleconnections forming with the respective elements and members endlesssystems back-and-forth-movable circuitously of themselves and in saidstructure, and means to pull each of said systems circuitously or Itselfand independently of the other systems so as to move the member orelement included therein in the irst direction and reversely, each ofthe member-including systems having means, on its movement in saiddirection, to dog the element-including system thereto next adjoiningand each element-including system having a portion thereof elastic andextensible and adapted to yield extensibly when such dogging ensues.

LOUIS DELL ORTO.

